16 lab-grown brains run world's first 'living computer' in Switzerland

[LudwigPastorius]

"Brains" is headline clickbait, but the story is interesting.

https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/worlds-first-living-computer-switzerland?utm

Swiss technology firm Final Spark has successfully launched Neuroplatform, the world’s first bioprocessing platform where human brain organoids (lab-grown miniaturized versions of organs) perform computational tasks instead of silicon chips.

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Replacing silicon chips with bioprocessors could lead to drastic energy savings. Final Spark allows research labs to experience the power of biological processors on the Neuroplatform.

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Final Spark has made working these varied components possible through an innovative setup called Multi-Electrode Arrays (MEAs), where the three-dimensional masses of brain tissue are placed.

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Final Spark faced many challenges in its early years since the organoids would die in just a few hours. The company has worked on this shortcoming and improved its MEA systems to ensure that organoids live for 100 days.

If you've watched Star Trek Voyager, with its "bio-neural gel packs", you are familiar with the concept. The pulp sci-fi, The Matrix, takes the idea to its dystopian extreme, a superintelligent AI using human brains for their processing power.